All posts tagged ‘xbox kinect’

Of all the things I nerd out over, and the list is a long one, Star Wars is at the top. This makes today a very special day because it marks the release of the Star Wars Kinect game and Xbox 360 styled like R2-D2 with a Threepio controller. I played the demo and thought it was great and now they’ve added something that takes it from great to amazing. There’s a Galactic Dance Off where you can dance along with Han to the mc chris parody “I’m Han Solo.” I’ve died and gone to nerd heaven.

I’m sure there are more than a few fanboys out there who are screaming and flailing at the idea of their favorite scruffy looking nerfherder getting his groove on with some Cloud City employees, but relax. Even a smuggler needs some down time and, really, what better song could they pick? The parody of Jason Derulo’s “Riding Solo” is so good to begin with that when you add in a dancing, animated Han Solo what’s not to love? They even have Lando take the floor half way through to show Han how it’s really done.

Is it cheesy? Heck, yes. Does it make any sense that they’d be dancing in Cloud City with random employees while R2-D2 and Threepio standby and Lobot plays DJ? Of course not. But that’s not the point. It’s impossible to watch this without smiling at the absurdity of it all. It’s like a little Easter egg just for fans that love anything and everything about Star Wars.

I know that I’m going to have a blast playing Star Wars Kinect even if there are some who feel that the whole dance off ruins everything. I think it’s awesome. If we survived Greedo shooting Han at the cantina and the existence of Jar-Jar Binks, then this one should be easy to manage. Now I’m off to pick up my game. See you on the dance floor, Solo.

Now that I have the game, I need to correct that the lyrics to this version of “I’m Han Solo” are not the same as those in the mc chris parody.

My daughter and I recently attended an event called Kinect for Kids, where we scarfed down mini-burgers and tried out the latest batch of XBox Kinect games for kids. For the longest time XBox ignored the little kid market, but now they’re poised to take a bite out of Nintendo’s market share. We only played the games for a few minutes at a time, but here is a list of the ones we’re most excited about.

Kinectimals: Now with Bears wins the warm and fuzzy award. The bears are absolutely adorable, responding happily when you train them, catch fish for them, and play games with them. In a brilliant stroke of cross-promotion, you can make special Kinectimal bears at Build-a-Bear Workshop and have them appear in the game. (Microsoft, $49.99, available now)

Screenshot: Microsoft

Now, I’m not a Disney fan in the way that some of my fellow GeekMoms are, so I’m surprised at just how much I enjoy Disneyland Adventures. You can explore the beloved theme park, meeting and interacting with your favorite characters. You can also visit the attractions which provide fun, contextual minigames like flying with Peter Pan. From what we’ve played, the game is fun enough to transcend the fact that it’s a gigantic ad for Disneyland. (Microsoft, $49.99, releases 11/15/01)

Screenshot: LucasArts

My daughter was so transfixed by Disneyland Adventures that I had to watch kids play Kinect Star Warsfrom afar, waving thier arms wildly while engaged in epic lightsaber battles on screen. The action and the art look great enough to please the Star Wars fan in your family. (LucasArts, price and availability pending)

Screenshot: THQ

Puss in Boots looks similarly entertaining, with luscious art that looks like it was plucked straight from the movies. Oh, and swordfighting. Lots and lots of swordfighting, using special attacks like “Claw Frenzy”. (THQ, releases 11/1/11)

Screenshot: Warner Bros.

Finally, it’s exciting to see Sesame Street enter the Kinect space which is far and away the loveliest-looking Sesame game of all time, Once Upon A Monster. Cookie Monster and Elmo explore a storybook filled with monsters, helping the monsters in each chapter. I love that this isn’t a letters and number learn-y Sesame title, rather an exploration through a fantasy adventure. What’s surprising to me is that my 6-year-old daughter, who has long since outgrown Sesame Street, wanted to return to this game again and again. (Warner Bros., $49.99, available now)

I’ll be keeping my eye out, too, for other partnerships between Sesame Workshop and Microsoft on two different projects: Kinect Sesame Street TV, where kids can interact with classic clips from the Sesame Archive (in a bit of sample gameplay, we threw coconuts to Grover who counted them) and code-named “Project Columbia” which is described as “a one-of-a-kind way to bring storybooks to life, allowing controller-free interaction with picturesque worlds right in the living room.”

Check back for more in-depth reviews on some of these titles. We’re eager to take a deeper dive into the gameplay!

An inescapable part of being a geek is the inability to shrug off or take at face value things that seem to make no sense. We want answers, even when it’s obvious there are none, and Christmas songs are no exception.

Herein, the top five holiday head-scratchers that set geeks to pondering. Can you think of others?

Song: “Run, Run, Rudolph”

Head-scratcher: The lyric “Randolph ain’t too far behind,” since Randolph is not one of the reindeer included on the typical roster of magical flying ungulates.

Possible explanation: Since the Chuck Berry song references the F-86 Sabre Jet, perhaps Randolph refers to Randolph Air Force base in Texas.

Song: “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”

Head-scratcher: We listeners know that Santa was actually Daddy, but the narrator doesn’t, which, ostensibly, is the source of the song’s mirth. Mommy fooling around with another dude on Christmas Eve–hilarious!

Possible explanation: Song takes place in Vegas bordello or polyandrous alternate reality.

Song: “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

Head-scratcher: The list of treasured holiday traditions named in the song includes “scary ghost stories”–not a Christmas activity in my house.

Possible explanation: The song might refer to the three ghosts in “A Christmas Carol,” but if so, at least name-check Chuck Dickens.

Song: “My Favorite Things”

Head-scratcher: Why is this considered a Christmas song?

Possible explanation: People offer the snowflakes, mittens and brown paper packages in the song as an explanation, but this seems awfully thin to me. When’s the last time you got a brown paper package tied up with string??

Song: “Dominic the Christmas Donkey”

Head-scratcher: The first time I heard this song, I was driving late at night and thought I was hallucinating. Then I heard it again the following day and realized it is indeed an actual song. It’s hard to choose just one head-scratcher from this little ditty, but I’d have to say that the repetition of “Jingity-jig, hee-haw, hee-haw” in the song tops the list. Hee-haw is simple enough to explain, but the jingities, not so much.

Possible explanation: Santa’s donkey is a fixture of many countries’ Christmas lore, but no word on why he’s been summarily named Dominic in this ditty. The video is unmissable, though, if only for the SuperMario mustache on the deeply disturbing donkey-horse mask.

Song: “I’ll be Home for Christmas”

Head-scratcher: “Please have snow and mistletoe and presents on the tree.” Is it a sequoia?

Possible explanation: Some versions change this to “under the tree,” but most keep the puzzling original lyric. Did people really hang gifts on their tree? Do people still do this? And would that void the warranty on an Xbox Kinect?

Song: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”

Head-scratcher: What could be more festive than the systematic dismantling of an old-school gal’s attempt to preserve her reputation, delivered by an increasingly pushy guy? Sound more appropriate for prom night than Christmas.

Possible explanation: Envisioning a Glee-ified future, the songwriter anticipated the day when two male singers could explode the song’s gender cliches.